[thinkthenpost]

Disclaimer, my opinion here, so it's worth what it cost you.

I believe the changes in Executive Compensation that were brought about with the Tax changes of 1993 which limited the amount top executives could receive in salary and started an expansion of stock options. I think this led to executives having an even larger more personal involvement in how a companies stock was doing and led to many of the book cooking shenanigans that have come to light over the last decade. I also think it played a part in the run away so-called Internet bubble.
Was Ken Lay the mastermind who dreamed this whole thing up, probably not? Was he a dupe who had no idea what was going on, probably not? Was he all the things bad the government prosecutors claimed, me personally I don't think so.

As for Sarbasnes-Oxley many companies that might have some day gone public never will, and some that have will return to private status. I think the SEC needed to streamline reporting and make it harder to hide things on the reports, not have Congress saddle business with even more cumbersome reporting hoops to jump through.

[SouthTexas]

I do not believe Ken Lay was pure as the driven snow, but he is NOT the devil incarnate as many portray him. Many of the other players in this have been noted, but anyone with two bits of common sense should have know that one company could not be everything to everyone in the energy business.

It is also absurd for those who rode that horse all the way up the hill, to whine and cry so loudly on the way down.